Some interesting ideas and characters, but as a whole the story felt disjointed and rushed. I imagine some young readers will appreciate the twists and reveals.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review*

I remember when I read Swamp Thing: Twin Branches I said that the art was horrifyingly ugly, but I’d clearly never seen this before. This art makes the Swamp Thing: Twin Branches art look like the Mona Lisa.

I want to gouge my eyes out. This is the embodiment of hideous. Honestly, stick-men would’ve been an improvement from this. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’re going to make a graphic novel at least make sure the art is somewhat good. If not, then make sure the storyline is top notch, which in this case it was so far from that it’s actually laughable. The storyline was an incoherent and repetitive mess. Not to mention super lame.

It’s a shame, really, because the premise was alright and the first 50 or so pages were okay plot-wise. If only this was written in a different medium like a book, had a change in storyline, had more dynamic characters, oh, and a completely new writer. That’s right, just change everything except for the bare bones of the story and then you’d have something that’s not as rubbish as this, and considering just how rubbish this was, the bar is extremely low in terms of what is better than this!

The plot, no doubt, is super intriguing but there were a few problems with the book
👎 Child abuse done by the mother herself. 
👎 Josie being used by her mother for malicious activities did not go down well with me.
👎 the colour palette used in the graphic novel was confusing at a few places and made it difficult to understand the characters.
👎 I did not find closure in the story with respect to Josie's father and her relationship with her mother.
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Nevertheless, there are certain reasons I would recommend reading this graphic novel 
👍 Fast-paced and interesting dialogues
👍 Important message for children that they should follow their heart and carve their own way.
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I received the ARC of this Graphic Novel from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I'm really confused with this graphic novels. The idea of this book sounded amazing - I'm a big fan of spy trope  and I was counting on strong female characters here who I would love. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The plot seemed to be rushed and sometimes it was hard to understand what is going on without rereading few pages again.
The art-style is quite simple - it isn't my favorite but it doesn't also bothered me that much. I like the colors that was used - they were in warm shades and it felt like they matched the story,

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me copy of book in exchange for review. All opinions are my own.

This turned out to be such a fun read. 
Josie thinks she's average until she discovers that her mom has spent her whole life brainwashing her into being the best secret agent ever. The discovery sets off a series of events that show Josie that she's better than she ever thought and that all she needs is to take control of her life.
The art is sketchy, dynamic, and somewhat wonky at times, but it works perfectly with the story.
It's definitely something I would recommend for younger readers to enjoy. 

Manny happy thanks to NetGalley and Graphic Universe for the early read.

This graphic novel follows a girl named Josie Black, who finds out she's being mind controlled by her mom, and decides that she's gonna ruin her mom and the institute she's affiliated with.

The premise of the book is really good, and this book deals with some really dark topics, like parental abuse and emotional abuse. But it doesn't feel heavy, but really lighthearted. The story is really refreshing, and overall, very fun. I do think that some themes could've been explored further.

The art style was my favorite thing about this graphic novel. It was simple, and I loved that they stuck to a theme in colouring instead of incorporating all colours. The colouring really matched the tone of the book, and created a very pleasant effect while reading. The drawings were really simple, but that just made the story stand out more.

I was really disappointed in the ending. It was open-ended, which left it open to interpretation but because of the abruptness of the ending, there wasn't much scope for interpretation as well.

Overall, if you're looking for a light and fun book, that you want to finish in one sitting, go for this. I'd rate it a 3/5 stars.

Though the topic was a little far-fetched this was still a fun read that shows how you can take control of your own life. This is one that will have many young readers entertained and wanting to be a spy.

↠ | two stars

um. what the f*** was that?

this was ... not good. if it wasn’t a graphic novel, if it wasn’t something i could finish in an hour, i wouldn’t have finished this. i would’ve stopped around page twenty.  minor spoilers will be included because there is absolutely no way for me to get around them. 

when you first begin this, it is extremely mundane. then, randomly, it picks up and throws you into this extremely fucked up story. let me preface this by saying i love spy stories and all of the negative trauma that comes along with it. however, this... this was something else. mainly because a child was involved. 

our main character (JB? i don’t even remember...), discovers her mother enrolled her into a spy program and has literally controlled every aspect of her life since she was born. that is the main issue i have with this story. this type of abuse made out to be a light hearted subject.  on top of that, this was far too fast paced. once you were thrown in, you got whip lash every few pages because something else happened. this took place over the course of... two days? three at most? in that time, this child literally solved a case the CIA couldn’t. it was far too convenient and far too easy. 

this lacked details and explanations that would have only enhanced the story—not that i’d want to subject myself to something longer, but adding just a few more pages could have benefited the reader’s understanding of this mess. i think this would have also been benefited from being written as a novel. again, i definitely wouldn’t want to subject myself to it, but i believe it would have more potential to be executed better especially because the art wasn’t that fantastic and the color palette was mediocre. 

overall, this was a rapid paced story of glorified child abuse. the authors could have done this exact same story without allowing the mother to abuse her daughter for years. it didn’t have to be like this. it could have been far more enjoyable. it wasn’t an awful read given the fact it took about an hour to finish and it was mainly pictures, but i can assure you, you can skip this. please, skip this. you don’t even need to bother with a summary. 

NOTE:thank you to netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this graphic novel. this in no way impacts my decisions. all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This graphic novel follows Josie Black, a girl who has unknowingly been trained by her mother to be the ultimate spy. When Josie realizes that she’s been being used by her mother all this time, she runs away and, with the help of her best friend, tries to find a way to defeat her mother and gain total self-autonomy.

I thought that this was a pretty good, light read. It had the potential to really explore abusive parenting and the weight of parent’s expectations on children, but it regally just skimmed the surface. If you want something quick to read, this could be your answer.

Hey, I like spy stuff! Tends to be the more morose Le Carre kind, but I'm in for a good adventure.

This book falls in the crack between the two styles. Josie, a young girl, finds out that her mother is a spy, and was forced by the CIA to have her daughter brainwashed and reprogrammed. She has been using her daughter in all kinds of espionage capers, Josie's memory getting wiped right after. This has led to her mother gaslighting Josie about all the holes in her memory.

I think this is pretty horrific. Josie basically finds out that her identity, and her past are fabricated. Who knows what is real? And not only that, her own mother had a large part in this. Terrifying.

The book does acknowledge this.. a bit. It also wants it to be the start of a fun YA spy adventure. And I just had a real problem getting past the basic horror of the premise.

It doesn't help that the art isn't great. Faces have shifting features, action scenes are bordering on laughable.

In the end I don't know what this is, and I don't think it knows what it wants to be.

This wasn't really my deal! The colors hurt my eyes and I didn't like the illustrations. The story was fun and could have been even better, but I just can't get over the fact that my eyes were not feeling all there with all the reds and oranges. Also, the abusive mom - not my thing.

I received an advanced reader copy of this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange of this honest review.

UGHHHHH. This one is tough to review, without talking about spoilers! The provided description made it sound like something I could get behind, but the concept was poorly executed. I didn’t even enjoy the artwork – the colours were interesting, but I didn’t like how sloppy the faces appeared. 1 star out of 5, I simply did not like this!

J.B. is a pretty great kid, but so messed up. I didn’t like that the mom turns out to be so evil (can’t say to what extent because of spoilers). I also didn’t like who she works for because it makes no logical sense, nor is it clear what the motives behind the special ops J.B. has been forced to do are.

Instead of leaving me satisfied with at least an entertaining read, this left me wanting for more. What even happens to J.B.? What happens to her dad? What happens to her mother and to her mother’s employer? I am confused at this lack of ending, of closure.

The expected publication date for The Spy Who Raised Me is April 6th, 2021.

Many thanks to Lerner Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story wasn't for me unfortunetly, I didn't like it much, the art was not to my liking also.
I'm not an fan of the art in this graphic novel, it was flimsy and the coloring was annoying, and the story was just a regular YA story.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This graphic novel was about a young girl who finds out she was actually a spy who was being controlled. It was an alright read, but not my favourite. It felt very rushed and was confusing at times. I think a younger reader who is interested in spies and cool female main characters would enjoy this graphic novel more than I did. The art style was interesting though!

3 stars *may change 
JB has one problem: she's painfully, terribly, boring. That and the fact that her mom is a bit cooky. Okay, a lot cooky. Turns out it runs in the family, which is quite splendid since I almost thought I was going to have to read about this ordinary girl. (I really should read book blurbs before I start them...)
It's not a surprise to anybody that I'm not necessarily the target audience for this book, as immature as I may be. Still, I thought it was a cute enough story to read between classes. 
The art style is charming along with a sort of autumn color palette that feels homely. The story was, obviously, written for children. It's paced very quickly and explains everything neatly. 
In terms of a children's graphic novel, well, that's what this is. A simple-to-understand comic with nice pictures. The plot itself wasn't anything crazy, although I was taken aback a bit by the mother-daughter dynamic. I'm glad it went in the direction that it did at the end. The mother's actions can only really be compared to child abuse, and I really thought this book would pull one of those annoying turns where the child forgives the parents because "Oh, I was doing what was best for you!" Thank God that didn't happen. Really, it's the bare minimum. 
If I was, say, 7 years younger I think I would have really enjoyed this. That being said, I am not 7 years younger. Though I'm sure that to a kid this is a wonderful story.
Thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for providing an arc.

3 stars. 

This was a fun graphic novel. But also kinda bad in parts. This is a story essentially about child abuse but written in a funny tone. I also wasn't a huge fan of the color palette used throughout the book, nor was I a fan of the way the characters were drawn in a "human but slightly off" style.  

However things i did love? I loved them a lot. There was a lot of good one liners and the plot moved at a consistent place. The little funny plot reveals were cute and adorable. The plot twist about the mom volunteering her up for this came at the right point and the author did a good job at dehumanizing the mom further and further as time went on. Big Sugar being the evil company was very apt.


The ARC of this graphic novel was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the description of this graphic novel sounded very interesting & fun I was so excited to read this. But sadly I did not like it. I did not like the art in this graphic novel. If someone asked me for a recommendation for a graphic novel I would not recommend this.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for a free copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. 
Oh am I ever torn on this one. On the one hand, JB was a kick ass kid.
On the other- her relationship with her mother leaves me feeling deeply unsettled. 
The art style wasn't all that pleasing.
Unfortunately this didn't do it for me.

A seemingly below-average teen finds out her mother programmed her as a sleeper spy and has been controlling her actions for years. This was a fun little graphic novel with lots of action and a fun premise. I could definitely see this being appealing to a lot of young readers out there.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group, and Graphic Universe for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are entirely my own. The Spy Who Raised Me is a graphic novel all about a girl who realizes her mother is a spy and that she has super spy powers as well. I thought this book was pretty entertaining and had a decent art style. I liked how the story was fast-paced. I liked the storyline, but the writing and progression of the story seemed a bit choppy. The book was very cheesy but I think it was still a decent graphic novel. I would give it a 2.5 or 2 star rating. It wasn't really bad but it wasn't the best either.